Fusion
A ground-breaking effort to change the way in which nuclear energy is commercially produced by copying the power of the Sun and the stars won international agreement yesterday. A multinational programme to develop nuclear fusion, which involves fusing together atomic nuclei as opposed to the present practice of splitting atoms, was formally approved by the European Union, the United States, China, India, Japan, Russia and South Korea.
Times 22nd Nov 2006
FT 22nd Nov 2006
The Sun 22nd Nov 2006
Telegraph 22nd Nov 2006
Daily Mail 22nd Nov 2006
Trident
Beckett is leading a Cabinet split on the replacement of Trident.
Times 22nd Nov 2006
Amid growing scepticism about the genuineness of the British government’s ‘review’ of the Trident nuclear submarine replacement options (the PM and senior cabinet figures have already made it clear they favour replacement), the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales issued a statement yesterday calling for total nuclear disarmament.
Ekklesia 22nd Nov 2006
The future of Britain’s nuclear deterrent will be discussed for the first time by the Cabinet tomorrow after the Defence Secretary, Des Brown, outlines the threat posed by the spread of the weapons. Ministers will decide in the next few weeks whether they should agree to a new nuclear submarine ballistic missile system needed to replace the ageing Trident by 2024. A replacement could cost as much as £40 billion and a decision in favour will be bitterly opposed by a substantial number of Labour MPs as well as thousands of party supporters.
Telegraph 22nd Nov 2006
Britain’s head of military procurement said on Tuesday the ministry would issue a white paper by the end of the year detailing the government’s thoughts on whether it should replace its nuclear armed submarines with new ones. “If we want to replace that deterrent at the end of its life, we have to take decisions now,” Minister for Defence Procurement Lord Drayson told a hearing of the House of Commons’ Defence Committee.
Reuters 21st Nov 2006
Government plans to upgrade or replace the Trident nuclear missile system are in breach of Britain’s obligations under international law, disarmament campaigners said yesterday. As ministers prepare to put the final touches to a white paper on Trident’s future, Greenpeace, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and the Acronym Institute, an independent thinktank, demanded a full debate on the legality of the plans, and on alternative defence policies, before the promised Commons vote on the issue.
Guardian 22nd Nov 2006
Nuclear Waste
Community leaders move to reassure residents that nuclear waste will not be dumped in Lincolnshire.
Lincolnshire Echo 22nd Nov 2006
Lincolnshire Echo 21st Nov 2006
Louth Leader 21st Nov 2006
Conservative leader says the Government has not approached Lincolnshire, and we have no plans to apply for a waste dump.
Lincolnshire Echo 21st Nov 2006
New nukes
According to a new survey from the Financial Times, the British people are evenly divided between the yes, no, and don’t know categories when it comes to the issue of building new nuclear power facilities.
Energy Business Review 22nd Nov 2006
EDF’s response to the DTI’s Nuclear Policy Framework Consultation has been published.
EDF Press Release 21st Nov 2006
Australia
Nuclear power is a viable option for meeting Australia’s future energy needs, a new government report says. The report, ordered by PM John Howard in June, said Australia could have a nuclear enrichment and power industry within 10 to 15 years.
BBC 21st Nov 2006
THE draft report on uranium mining processing and nuclear energy is an exercise in “greenwash” for a dirty and dangerous industry. It skates over the serious risks of proliferation of nuclear weapons, nuclear terrorism and nuclear waste management, misrepresents the carbon dioxide emissions from the nuclear fuel chain, and presents a highly selective and excessively optimistic choice of numbers for the cost of nuclear electricity.
Sydney Morning Herald 22nd Nov 2006
Dounreay
Remote controlled underwater vehicles – ROVs – could be used to clear radioactive particles from the seabed near the Dounreay nuclear complex. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), which is cleaning up the site, said it hopes to test the technology’s suitability for the task. UKAEA also said it would step up monitoring of Sandside Beach, near the plant in Caithness, for particles. Seventy-four rogue particles have been found on the beach.
BBC 21st Nov 2006
